Concerns about the criminalisation of abortion in the new Ecuadorian Organic Integrated Criminal Code

According to the non-governmental organizations who attended the Committee hearings and presented shadow reports, the State did not answer the experts’ questions on issues such as freedom of expression, human trafficking, and women’s rights, among others. This information must be sent, in writing, by the Ecuadorian State to the Committee.

(The Committee notes with concern that the new Organic Integrated Criminal Code criminalises voluntary termination of pregnancy, except when it is to “prevent a danger to the life or health of the pregnant woman and if this danger cannot be avoided by other means” and when the pregnancy has been a consequence of the rape “of a woman who suffers from mental disability”, which would lead to many pregnant women to continue to seek unsafe abortion services that endanger their life and health.)

(The State Party should review the new criminal law to introduce additional legal grounds for termination of pregnancy, including when the pregnancy is a result of incest or rape, even if the woman does not suffer from mental disabilities, and in the case of fatal fetal anomaly, and ensure that the legal barriers do not force women to resort to unsafe abortions that could endanger their lives and health. It should also increase its efforts with a view to ensurin that women and adolescent girls can access appropriate sexual and reproductive health services throughout the country and strengthen the programs of education and awareness raising on the importance of contraceptive use and rights in the field of sexual and reproductive health.)